Time On My Hands 6
by Laura W
Summary: Seven months after Voyager's return, someone gives Chakotay a call. P/T for sure. J/C, more or less.


**NOTE: **The _sixth_ story written for the VAMB Time On My Hands challenge. These definitely need to be read in order. I have never attempted to write from this POV. I hope I got it right.

**Time On My Hands 6**

We have way too much time on our hands.

Tom is standing over Miral's crib with the hideous stuffed _targ_ from Harry and singing some ridiculous song about a crying hound dog while she giggles and looks up at him with those big eyes. It's the fourth time he's sung the song in the last fifteen minutes and it isn't getting any better although Miral doesn't seem to care. Miral thinks any little thing Tom does is wonderful.

She's only seven months old, though. Eventually she'll figure out that not everything that he does is Earth-shattering.

Although that little thing he's doing with his hips while he sings? That's pretty okay. That might even be wonderful but I'll have to watch a while longer before I decide.

I have plenty of time. I'm sitting at the comm station in our house in San Francisco trying to get through to the subspace relay on Dorvan so I can talk some sense into Chakotay.

That's what Harry said I needed to do last week when he brought over the six pack of microbrew, the real thing not replicated, and the stuffed _targ_. "Call him, B'Elanna," he said. "Talk some sense into him."

The three of us argued about it while we drank the six pack. Chakotay is a grown man, I said, a stubborn, stupid, proud man, but a grown man and if he wants to hide on Dorvan for the next fifty years and never face up to the way he left us, just _left us_, well, that's his choice and who are we to tell him he made a mistake? That's his problem to deal with with and whatever consequences it may have for him and his life and his happiness are his, too. Not ours. His.

Harry just stared at me with his mouth hanging open.

But my husband gave me that soft smile of his, the one that says he understands me and that it's okay. "We miss him, too, B'Elanna," he said, and I'm proud to say I didn't cry but I wanted to. I really, really wanted to.

Because I do miss him. I can't believe how much.

Life is good for me now, very good, and a lot of it is thanks to him. He looked out for me in the Maquis and he suggested Captain Janeway make me the Chief Engineer and he helped me see it was okay to feel the way I feel for Tom, that it didn't make me weak to admit it. It made me strong.

I took it from there, of course. And Tom and I have made a good life together here in this big house in San Francisco. I have a home now, a real home with people I love. I've thanked Admiral Janeway for everything she did to make this possible and I want to thank Chakotay, too. I want him to be part of Miral's life.

But the stupid, stubborn, proud p'taQ is gone and has been gone practically since the minute we were released from the debriefings.

As Harry and Tom and I drank the beer and swapped stories about _Voyager_ and passed Miral around I realized that Chakotay is family to me as much as Tom and his sisters are, and Harry and Admiral Janeway and Sam and Naomi and the Doc and Tuvok and all the rest of them. Even Seven. Even Seven is family to me.

And because Chakotay is family we have a responsibility to find out why he's staying away and what's eating him up and how we can help. He's staying with his sister and I'm sure he's talked to her about some of what we all went through but it's not the same as talking to someone who went through it, too.

So Tom and Harry nominated me to call him. Because I've known him the longest. His history with Tom isn't the best, either, and Harry... Harry's just so _angry_ with him right now. Tom and I talked a little bit about why and we think it has a lot to do with the way Chakotay left. Not that he left with Seven, that was weird but nobody's business but his. No. The fact that he left at all has Harry tied in knots.

Harry's very protective of Janeway and the way Chakotay just walked away from their friendship was...cold. It hurt us all but it may have hurt Harry the most because it was just so disappointing. Harry looked up to Chakotay. Harry's maybe a little too prone to hero worship. The Captain and Chakotay were larger than life to him, I guess, and so the way things wound up hit him hard. He expected better. From both of them, probably. I don't think he expected them to ride off into the sunset together or anything ridiculous like that, but we all thought that their friendship would last. And if they could last, it would mean the rest of us could, too.

Maybe they were larger than life to all of us by the end. They got us home. They kept everything together, kept everybody motivated and focused for seven years in a part of the Universe that seemed determined to destroy us. Getting home must have been a hell of a letdown for both of them. What do you do after seven years of constant danger and worry and stress? I guess if you're the Captain you accept your promotion and go home to Indiana and sleep for six straight months which seems to be mostly what she did before she turned up back at HQ.

And if you're Chakotay... If you're a middle-aged man who lost almost everything that mattered before you ever got thrown into the Delta Quadrant in the first place... If you've spent the last 10 years trying to make a life wherever you are and with whoever you find there... I guess you run off with a willing blonde and hope you can forget everything you've been through and maybe find the youth you lost somewhere along the way. And when the blonde inevitably leaves you, you stay away from your family because you're just so damn embarrassed.

The p'taQ. I think I understand why he did what he did but it's still disappointing. I guess I'm mad at him, too.

So I'm sitting here at the comm station listening to Tom sing his horrible Elfin song or whatever it is and waiting for someone on Dorvan to hear my signal. This is the sixth time I've tried this week and I haven't been able to raise anyone and we need to get through to him in time for the Prixin party next month. He had to have gotten the invitation. Mike and Sue and Philicia and all the rest got theirs and they're all coming. But we've had no word from Chakotay. That's the other reason we're calling. Tom and Admiral Janeway and I have planned the party, and Tom and I are hoping Chakotay will see it as an excuse to come back that won't hurt his damn pride. But I keep trying to call and coming up empty and I'm getting tired of waiting.

Tom swivels those hips again. At least the scenery is good today.

We're not sure we're going to be able to get through to him at all. Janeway tipped Harry off about the subspace relay and warned him that it wasn't monitored most of the time so we should be persistent. And we have been. After the fourth try I called Harry to find out if he knew anything else about the relay. He didn't and suggested I ask Seven because Seven had at least been there once.

So I did. That was a weird conversation: Me, calling Seven to ask her how to contact her ex-boyfriend who probably didn't want to be contacted at all.

As usual, Seven didn't even blink. She told me that the relay was usually unmanned but that if we did manage to get through to a live person the call could be routed directly to Sekaya's house because as soon as _Voyager_ established two-way communications with the Alpha Quadrant Starfleet had upgraded her comm equipment for her. So really it's just a matter of waiting and hoping we get someone at the relay.

I am drumming my fingers on the console and wondering if the call could be automated somehow to go straight through the relay and on to Sekaya's house without waiting for a response when the screen flashes and a woman's surprised face appears. I lean forward in my chair. "Hello?" I say.

The woman blinks. There's a one or two second delay and finally she says, "_Heya_. Who are you?" Her Standard is a little halting.

"B'Elanna Torres," I say. "I'm calling for Chakotay or Sekaya. Can you route this call?"

The woman cocks her head to one side. "Starfleet?"

"Yes," I say. "Starfleet is calling for Chakotay. Can you get him? Tell him B'Elanna Torres needs to talk to him right away."

She nods. "A minute," she says, and the screen goes blank again.

Tom turns away from the crib to look at me. "Hope he's home."

I shrug. "Maybe we can leave a message if he's not."

Tom goes back to his singing and I go back to my drumming until the screen flashes two minutes later and I get a full-on view of somebody's naked gut in front of the comm on the other end. "Kahless, Chakotay," I say, wincing. "Put some clothes on."

Tom gives me a look at me over the top of the screen. I wave him off. It's not like I haven't seen Chakotay's naked gut about a hundred times before. And his bare ass once, but Tom doesn't need to know that.

"B'Elanna?" Chakotay says. He flops down in the chair in front of the screen and pulls a T-shirt over his head. He looks horrible. Haggard and too thin and unshaven. "What's wrong? What's going on? Is everybody all right?" He's frantic and I draw back from the screen a little bit.

"Everybody's fine," I say. "Miral's growing like a weed and Tom's good. I'm fine. We're all fine. How are you?"

He stares at me. "Torres, do you have any idea what time it is here?"

Oh. Uh-oh. I try to smile. "Middle of the night?" I guess.

"0300," he says.

"Sorry."

"I thought there was an emergency."

"No, no emergency." Tom and I glance at each other. "Want to call me back in a few hours?"

Chakotay runs a hand through his hair, which is longer and grayer than I've ever seen it. "No, I'm up now."

"Okay, good," I say. "Did you get the invitation we sent?"

He smirks at me. "I'm fine, thanks for asking," he says. "Sekaya's fine, too. And the kids and Koham. I'm sure they'd love to have you and Tom and Miral come for a visit sometime. Now, to what do I owe the pleasure of this call?"

I roll my eyes at him. "Did you get the invitation or not, Chakotay?"

"I got it."

"Are you coming?"

He sighs. "I'm not sure I should."

"Why not?"

"Because of...the way I left."

"Without saying goodbye?"

"Yes."

We stare at each other for several seconds. "It hurt a lot of people, Chakotay."

He looks away from the comm screen. "I realized that as soon as I did it. I assume it's why no one has contacted me since I left."

I frown. "It's not like you've tried to contact any of us."

He gives his head a little shake. "I know. I'm sorry." He looks up at me again. "I'm sorry for everything, B'Elanna."

I realize that he's miserable and he wants to come back but he doesn't know how. But I have to know one more thing before I can tell if it'll be all right when he gets here. "Why haven't you talked to Admiral Janeway?"

He looks away again. "Because of the way I left," he repeats.

"With Seven, you mean."

"Yes."

It's hard not to laugh at him. "Chakotay, the only two people in the Universe who didn't realize that was over as soon as we hit Earth orbit were you and the Admiral."

"And Seven."

"Please. Seven's not stupid. Once we were back she didn't want to be stuck with a boring middle-aged man any more than you wanted to be stuck with a child. She knew it as soon as you got to DS9."

That makes Chakotay think for a second and I can practically hear the thoughts turning in his head like slow, rusty gears. Come on, Old Man. Try to catch up with me.

He finally straightens. "You've talked to her."

"She's back at HQ working with the team going over _Voyager_."

"Your team."

"The same."

"Are they refitting _Voyager_?"

I nod. "They're going to. I think Command is going to offer the ship to you."

"I don't want it. I never did."

I shrug. "I know that, but they don't. You're going to have to come back here to tell them."

"I know," he says. He yawns. "How is Seven? She's okay?"

This time I do laugh. "She's fine." I lean back in my chair. "Admiral Janeway and I have lunch with her every Friday."

The color drains from his face. While he sits there and thinks about that another figure moves in behind him. It's Sekaya. I met her once years ago. I start to say something but she waves me off with the same smirk I've seen on Chakotay's face a thousand times before only on her it works. I wonder how much of the conversation she's heard up to now. He clearly doesn't know she's there.

Chakotay fidgets in his chair. "How is...Admiral Janeway?"

I grin. "She's good. Great, actually. She spent the first few months of her leave in Indiana,but she's back at HQ now. She's working with my team, too. And also doing Admiral stuff."

"She's...happy?"

"Very." I look up at my husband. "Wouldn't you say so, Tom?"

He grins, too. "Definitely. She's got the old Janeway bounce in her step again. That Bajoran doctor going over the Delta Quadrant xenobiology reports seems very taken with her. What's his name, B'Elanna?"

"Sobari," I say. "Nel Sobari."

"Sobari," Tom repeats. "Good-looking guy, too. Your typical tall, dark and handsome. Just the Admiral's type."

Chakotay's face darkens. "Paris," he growls.

Tom steps around behind me so Chakotay can see him. "Oh, Chakotay," he purrs, "I've missed that."

"What?"

"The way you say my name," Tom sighs. "So deep, so forbidding, so..."

Behind Chakotay, Sekaya bursts into laughter. Chakotay frowns and looks up at her and she puts a hand on his shoulder. "I'm sorry," she says, still smiling. "I heard voices." She nods at me. "It's good to see you again, B'Elanna," she says.

"You too," I say and nod at Tom. "This is my husband, Tom Paris."

Sekaya's smile widens. "I've heard a lot about you both."

My husband the charmer gives her his most boyish grin. "None of it good, I bet."

Sekaya tips her head to one side and considers us both with deep, dark eyes that seem to see right through me. Just like Chakotay's. "I think you'd be surprised," she says very softly. "My brother misses you both. He misses you all. He wants to come back to you. Can you help him?"

The air seems to have suddenly gone out of the room. Tom and I both still under Sekaya's steady gaze and Chakotay lowers his chin to his chest. After a second he looks up and there's no comm screen between us anymore, no empty space, no hurt. Just old friends, one remorseful, two with the means to help him make it right again. "Yes," I say finally. "I think we can."

Tom puts his arm around me. "There's a party next month. For Prixin."

Sekaya smiles. "The Talaxian holiday to celebrate family. My brother has told me. You will celebrate there?"

I nod. "Yes. The Admiral has rented a hall on the university campus near her family home. Everybody who can is coming."

"That's why we contacted Chakotay," Tom says. "We sent an invitation, but we never heard from him."

Sekaya looks down at him. "It is time," she says.

He shakes his head. "I can't," he says. "I'm not ready. I-"

Sekaya cuts him off with a sharp phrase in a language I can't understand. He responds just as sharply in the same tongue and then they're off. The universal translator can't make anything of the language and the argument hits me like a wall of sound. I recognize my name and Tom's and "Kathryn." But that's all. I look up at Tom. He just shrugs.

We wait.

The argument is fascinating to watch because they're so alike and they know each other so well that it escalates in a hurry and then dies down just as quickly. Sekaya must know exactly how to get to him because after about a minute he stops talking. He rubs his ear and nods at her. She pats his shoulder.

They both turn back to face us. "I'm ready," Chakotay says, "but it's too far. I'm not sure I can get there in time."

Tom and I grin at each other. "It's taken care of, Chakotay," I say.

He is confused. "What do you mean?"

Tom leans into the screen. "She sent a ship," he says.

"What?" Chakotay's mouth falls open.

I laugh. "Admiral Janeway assigned Harry to the _Sagan_ a couple of months ago."

"The science vessel?"

I nod. "Last week she sent them to your sector to survey for dilithium deposits. As soon as they're done, they'll swing by Dorvan on the way back to Earth. Just in time for Prixin."

"On Dasher, on Dancer, on Prancer and Vixen!" Tom yells. "It's a Prixin Miracle." I roll my eyes. Sekaya and Chakotay just look bewildered.

Chakotay stares at us. "She sent a ship for me?"

Tom laughs long and loud. "Don't flatter yourself, Chakotay. She sent the ship for all of you. Sue and Philicia, Ken and his wife, Hoke, Mike and his boys."

I look at Sekaya. "And you and your family, too," I say. "You're all invited. We'll have the Frangipani Room set up with holosuites for the kids to play in."

They both frown at me. "The Frangi...what?" Chakotay asks.

"The Frangi-" I wave my hand at him. It's the same damn reaction I've gotten from everyone I've told about it. "It's a room in the Union building where we're having the party. We'll have it set up for the kids. So you should all come."

"The ship will be there in two weeks," Tom continues. "If you happen to be on it when it gets to Earth, great. If not, your choice and your loss."

Chakotay hesitates for a second and then smiles and for the first time in maybe three or four years he looks happy. Really, truly happy. "We'll be on it," he says. "All of us." He chuckles. "Although I'm a little afraid of what Paka might get into on a starship."

Sekaya gives him a shove. "That will be your problem, not mine."

"You're his Mother," Chakotay protests.

"And you're his Uncle. Father always said that Uncles have favored status."

Chakotay shakes his head. "You're making that up just so you won't have to deal with Paka's mischief."

"And you haven't made up tribal legends to get your way with your shipmates?"

Chakotay laughs out loud. "You have no idea, Sekaya. No idea at all."

As we watch this banter between them Tom takes my hand in his and leans close to my ear. "See? He's okay, B'Elanna," my husband whispers. "And everything is going to be all right now."

And he's right. I know now how worried I was about my old friend and what the Delta Quadrant did to him. But the time away from us and with his sister has helped him find his feet again. I see that now. He's different. We're all different. But we're going to be all right just the same.

We all talk for a few more minutes and then I let Sekaya and Chakotay go back to bed. Tom is hovering over Miral's crib again singing that silly song about the crying hound dog. But he's singing softer now and I know that Miral must be nearly asleep.

I also know that Tom knows I'm watching him.

When he reaches the end of the song he tucks the _targ_ into the crib with Miral and gives his hips one last wriggle. "Nice moves, Helmboy," I say.

He chuckles and strikes a pose. "Thank you," he drawls. "Thank you very much." Then he winks at me.

We have way, way too much time on our hands.

Not that I'm complaining.

-END-

**NOTE: **Yep, those of you were were anticipating that B'Elanna would be next were exactly right. I tried really hard to come up with something else to surprise you, but this is where I had to go. But I might have something different up my sleeve for the next one. We shall see. :-)


End file.
